Letters, May 19: A scandal-ridden White House

NEWPORT BEACH, Ron Williams, U.S. Secret Service, retired: This administration is one riddled with scandals due to a lack of strong leadership ["Reckless administration by scandals," Letters, May 16].

Pat Oliphant / Washington Post

President Barack Obama has ignored or glossed over the threat of radical Islam, preferring to describe the shooting of 13 soldiers at Fort Hood as the work of a disgruntled employee engaged in violence in the workplace. These assertions ring especially false as evidence shows Maj. Nidal Hassan, who had been communicating with radical Islamic cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen, screamed "Allahu Akbar" as he shot his fellow soldiers in cold blood.

The Obama administration has even gone as far to order the FBI to quit using phrases such as "jihadist," thus ignoring the obvious threat posed by the followers of radical Islam. This is worthy of note, as the president took a call from the director of the CIA on Sept. 11, 2012 at 5 p.m. EST, in which Obama was alerted that the consulate in Benghazi was under attack.

According to former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's testimony before Congress, he had no other contact with the White House until the next day after Ambassador Stevens and three other Americans had been killed. During the attack, which lasted over seven hours, the president, apparently, was incommunicado. That no military action was ordered to assist those under attack in Benghazi is unconscionable. Then, the Obama administration paraded U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice with an explanation for the attacks that we now know is a lie – blaming an obscure YouTube film – just before Obama's reelection.

In recent days, as if the current bombshells we've been hearing about weren't enough, we learn the IRS actively targeted conservatives before the election. America is beginning to remind me of a bad cruise ship, where the ship is dead in the water, the toilets are overflowing, there is no emergency response plan in effect and the captain is telling everyone it is the prior captain's fault but he has everything under control. It does not wash, and it is time for the captain to leave and let someone who is ethical with leadership skills take command of the helm.

It is time for Americans who believe their leaders should be truthful and ethical to rise up and hold this charlatan and his unethical minions accountable.

Obama officials fielding blame

ORANGE, David Ehrlich: Years from now, when historians look back at the eight years of the Obama administration what will they see? President Harry Truman had a sign on his desk that said "the buck stops here."

Where does the buck stop in the Obama administration? Certainly not with him. It is either former President George W. Bush's fault, House Republicans' fault or someone else's fault. He is the president – who else are we going to make responsible? Maybe we, the American people, are to blame. After all, we did elect him twice.

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HUNTINGTON BEACH, Ron Higby: Unfortunately, too many politicians and civil servants willingly lie to protect their vested interests. There has been Watergate under Nixon, Iran-Contra under Reagan, Whitewater, Monica Lewinsky and the Little Rock Rose law firm under the Clintons and so many more scandals.

Accordingly, all Americans must actively support a free press that uncovers and reports various evils that tempt elected representatives and appointed bureaucrats at all levels of government.

Partisan dismissal of Benghazi tragedy

CHINO HILLS, Steve Fleming: Left-wing spin on the Benghazi scandal usually takes shape along these lines: Attacks on our embassies "occurred on other presidents' watch," there were simple "mistakes" made, there was innocent "confusion" as to the cause of this attack, and there has already been an investigation by "highly respected" people which asked "all possible questions" and meted out responsibility ["Incompetence or a cover-up in Benghazi?" Letters, May 13].

However, what has been discovered is that these simple "mistakes" turn out to be not only an ignoring of multiple warnings from the CIA, but a bizarre "stand down" order given when the fighting started and help was requested. At worst, this is criminal malfeasance. At best, it is incompetence. It has also been discovered that there was no "confusion" about what was going on, as emails from the CIA determined almost immediately that this was a coordinated attack by terrorists. But this information, along with the warnings, was cleansed and changed on purpose so as to not be harmful to Obama for an election only weeks away.

The investigation by a "highly respected" group of people didn't even interview the head of the State Department, Hillary Clinton, while under oath, did not interview the then-head of the CIA, Gen. David Petraeus, didn't ask where the "stand down" order came from, failed to interview any of the more than 30 survivors of the attack, or ask where President Obama was during all of this.

Some letter-writers dismiss what happened in Benghazi and ask: "Is this all there is?" Unfortunately, with four dead Americans, this is far more important than they think it is. It is a serious investigation with serious goals of accountability for these heroes' deaths and the Obama administration's lies to the American people.

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IRVINE, Neil Morchower: Have we finally come to the realization that we need a special prosecutor or a joint select committee with subpoena power to get to the bottom of the numerous outrageous situations under this administration? The scandals include:

• The Black Panthers harassment of voters in a Philadelphia voting precinct at a recent election.

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